Golf has become a popular recreational game. In the game of golf a ball is played from the teeing ground to the putting green by successive strokes, and once on the putting green into the hole, using a specialized club called a putter.
A conventional short putter (FIG. 1) is between 75 and 90 cm. in total length, and has a single grip 1, located at the top end of the shaft 2. The player grasps the single grip with both hands (FIG. 2) when putting the ball with the putter head 3.
While the use of a putter is an apparently simple action, it is perhaps the part of golf which is least reliable from day to day. A common problem that golfers experience when putting is excessive wrist flexure, or hinging of the wrists, when swinging their putter, which contributes to inconsistency of both direction and distance control.
An extreme form of poor putting is a condition known as the yips, whereby the golfer has greatly excessive wrist flexure in his/her stroke, sometimes accompanied by excessive body movement as well. It has been known for golfers suffering from the putting yips to occasionally even miss the ball completely.
Many famous golfers, including Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Bernhard Langer, and Tom Watson have had periods of very unreliable short distance putting, using conventional short putters.
To improve their putting some golfers are no longer using a conventional short putter, and are now using a long putter (FIG. 3) in a simple pendulum type putting action.
A long putter is between 100 and 130 cm. in total length, and has two grips, an upper grip 4, located at the top end of the shaft 5, and a lower grip 6, below it on the shaft. An alternative form of long putter available has a single non tapered grip (FIG. 7). Other forms possible include long grips with taper (FIGS. 6/8). The player grasps the upper grip with one hand when putting the ball, and this upper hand is stabilized against the body, usually the chest (FIG. 4), or chin, and remains relatively stationary during the putting stroke. The other hand grips the lower grip 6, providing the force to hit the ball, and the putter is pivoted with this lower hand from a pivot point in the approximate area of the upper hand.
A disadvantage of this method is that it is quite different to conventional short putter technique and requires considerable practice to re-establish the golfer's confidence in his/her new putting technique.
A second disadvantage is that only the one hand, the lower hand, is involved in applying force to the putt and this makes it harder to reliably control the path of the club.
A third disadvantage is that the very unusual looking split-hand gripping method, which has the hands some 40 to 60 cm. apart, and one elbow raised up 7, draws attention, embarrassing the golfer and signifies to many observers that the golfer has had trouble with short putts, a condition known as the yips.
Almost all conventional short putters have a non-circular section grip, some of which 8, 9, 10 are illustrated in FIG. 5. This indicates the very strong preference by golfers for non-circular cross section putter grips. However long putters, having two grips, must use grips of only circular cross section (11 in FIG. 5). This is required by Rules of Golf (1996 edition, Appendix 2, 4-1c). This is a further disadvantage for golfers using the long putter. (In the 1996 Walt Disney Open, which is a regular United States Professional Golfer's Association Tour event, a golfer named Taylor Smith was the joint leader after the completion of 72 holes, but was then disqualified for using a non-conforming grip. Taylor Smith was using a long putter with two grips but one of them was non-circular and therefore in bread of the Rules of Golf).
Because of these four disadvantages less than 2% of golfers presently use a long putter.
A number of patents have dealt with improvements to putters and putting technique to enable better putting. Many of these have attempted to improve the design and use of long putters.
Parmley, 1965 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,188,086) describes a method of putting where the putter shaft extends above and beyond the end of the putter grip so that the shaft extension may connect with the abdomen via a pivot member on the end of the shaft. This enables the top of the putter to be stabilized against the abdomen, but the shaft extension is illegal for playing according to the Rules of Golf (Rule 4).
Bernhardt 1979 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,554) describes a method of putting using an elongated putter, with two gripping portions, and putting in a side saddle manner while facing the hole. The hand which holds the upper grip portion is stabilized against the body, and the putter is pivoted from this area. This method has been found cumbersome and difficult to use especially with longer putting distances.
Thomas, 1995 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,891) describes an extension device to convert a conventional short putter to the long putter twin grip form. However this device, being easily adjustable, is in breach of the Rules of Golf (28.sup.th Edition, 1996, Appendix 2, Rule 4-1a(i)).
Scheie et al. 1996 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,446) describes a putting training aid which is an elongated rod with a ball on one end. When inserted in the end of a putter the movement of the ball relative to the body identifies if there is excessive wrist flexure when swinging the putter. This training aid is illegal for play according to the Rules of Golf (28.sup.th Edition, 1996, Appendix 2, Rule 4-1a(i)). Also it does not seek to restrict wrist flexure but to identify it.
Present golf club grips are between 24 and 29 cm in length.
Present long putter technique uses a split grip method. An improvement on the present art would be a putter which, is legal for play, which may be circular in cross section or may be one of various types of non-circular grip section, and is adjustable to suit the golfer's stature and preferred posture, and is used in a way which is more like conventional putting technique, while restricting unwanted wrist flexure.